Maccabi Tel Aviv overwhelmed Hapoel Petach Tikva 4-0 as Tyrese Asante scored a brace with a goal in both halves to take the 3 points and the win. Under interim coach Kenny Miller who took over for Ronny Deila, the yellow-and-blue looked to get on the board early and that’s exactly what Dor Peretz did when he headed home an Emir Sahiti ball just two minutes into the match for a 1-0 lead.

Asante scored his first of two with this one coming from the top of the box as the game went into first half stoppage time with Maccabi holding a 2-0 advantage. Asante nodded in and Ido Shachar corner kick to give Miller’s side a 3-0 lead while Elad Madmon pounded a Roy Revivo pass into the goal to polish off a 4-0 victory.

Maccabi interim coach Kenny Miller, summed up the win, “It was a good performance from the start. We kept the tempo, a strong display and we scored the second goal at the right time. That allowed us to be patient and not chase the game. But the second half was excellent, we finished very strongly and could have scored many more. We controlled the game and were very dominant in the second half.”

Regarding the situation around the team with Deila taking a break, Miller said: “These were 48 difficult hours. We could have come unprepared with the wrong energy, but this team is top. You saw how after a goal, Dor Peretz takes the ball to the center circle and wants more. I’m proud of the players.”

Hapoel Petach Tikva Head Coach Omer Peretz concluded, “It’s very tough. We feel like we’re in a boxing match after every game. There wasn’t a real fight here and it’s hard for us to carry these games, both in terms of energy and physically. I apologize to the fans for this performance. There’s a price to our good season, we’re exhausted. We’ll come to Beer Sheva with all our strength and won’t make it easy.”